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<\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Donald Trump\u2019s latest act of trade brinkmanship risks creating a \u201ctariff wall\u201d around the manufacturing hubs of south-east Asia, leading to higher prices and tough choices for US consumers and industry, analysts warn.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Wednesday\u2019s deadline to cut trade deals with Washington, the US president signalled a fresh round of tariffs on the south-east Asian countries that have become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d3941234-2eeb-476c-9a8c-249a35c8b7fa\" data-trackable=\"link\">conduit<\/a> for Chinese manufacturers looking to escape US levies.<\/p>\n<p>He threatened Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand with duties ranging from 25 to 40 per cent in an apparent final bid to force them to the negotiating table ahead of a new August 1 deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Trump announced that Vietnam \u2014 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d3941234-2eeb-476c-9a8c-249a35c8b7fa\" data-trackable=\"link\">biggest destination<\/a> for \u201crerouted\u201d Chinese goods \u2014 had accepted a 20 per cent tariff on its exports to the US, rising to 40 per cent for goods that had been \u201ctransshipped\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The US administration expects its trade policies to raise more than $300bn in revenue by the end of the year, with Trump saying on Wednesday that \u201cthe big money will start coming in on August 1\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Economists said that, while it was hard to predict at what level duties would finally settle, the outline of a new Asian tariff wall was beginning to take shape that would warp regional and global supply chains.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n-content-layout\" data-component=\"flourish\" data-component-id=\"24142989\" data-component-type=\"flourish-in-article\">\n<figure class=\"n-content-picture n-content-layout__container\"><a href=\"#24142989\"><picture data-asset-type=\"flourish\" data-flourish-id=\"24142989\" data-flourish-type=\"visualisation\">\n<div id=\"24142989\" class=\"cp-message o-message o-message--inform o-message--notice\" data-o-component=\"o-message\">\n<div class=\"o-message__container\">\n<div class=\"o-message__content\">\n<p class=\"o-message__content-main\">Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/picture><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Alicia Garc\u00eda Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at investment bank Natixis, said there was still time for south-east Asian countries such as Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand to negotiate a better deal with Washington.<\/p>\n<p>She argued that Vietnam\u2019s 20 per cent tariff deal did not necessarily have to become the benchmark for other south-east Asian countries that were less dependent on China for their manufacturing inputs, and less guilty of accepting rerouting goods to avoid US tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>But whatever the final tariffs levels agreed, she added that they would force up prices for goods exported from south-east Asia which remains a manufacturing hub for many consumer goods sold in the US.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManufacturing will get more expensive in Asia generally, but in principle the 20 per cent \u2018tariff wall\u2019 might be different across countries where inputs from China are smaller. I don\u2019t think it has to be the same,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n-content-layout\" data-component=\"flourish\" data-component-id=\"24142489\" data-component-type=\"flourish-in-article\">\n<figure class=\"n-content-picture n-content-layout__container\"><a href=\"#24142489\"><picture data-asset-type=\"flourish\" data-flourish-id=\"24142489\" data-flourish-type=\"visualisation\">\n<div id=\"24142489\" class=\"cp-message o-message o-message--inform o-message--notice\" data-o-component=\"o-message\">\n<div class=\"o-message__container\">\n<div class=\"o-message__content\">\n<p class=\"o-message__content-main\">Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.flourish.studio%2Fvisualisation%2F24142489%2Fthumbnail%3FcacheBuster%3D973344?source=cp-content-pipeline&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=1020&dpr=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/picture><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at consultancy Capital Economics, which tracks rerouting of Chinese goods through other Asian countries, agreed that there could still be a \u201cfair degree of inconsistency\u201d among tariff rates for countries and industries in the region.<\/p>\n<p>However he added that Trump\u2019s tariff wall would have regional supply chain impacts, including potentially slowing the shift of Chinese manufacturing into the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional grouping, which accelerated during Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA relatively high tariff on countries that could substitute for China in global manufacturing would probably slow the shift of firms out of China [because] there would be less urgency if the wedge between tariffs on China and other manufacturing economies was smaller,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n<p>But even if tariffs settled at a relatively high rate, they would fail to achieve the administration\u2019s stated ambition of pulling manufacturing back into the US, Williams argued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe choice for consumers and firms in the US will be between paying more for a foreign-made product that now has an additional tariff, or going without. And in many sectors US production wouldn\u2019t be competitive with imports, even if tariffs have to be paid,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"n-content-layout\" data-component=\"flourish\" data-component-id=\"24143524\" data-component-type=\"flourish-in-article\">\n<figure class=\"n-content-picture n-content-layout__container\"><a href=\"#24143524\"><picture data-asset-type=\"flourish\" data-flourish-id=\"24143524\" data-flourish-type=\"visualisation\">\n<div id=\"24143524\" class=\"cp-message o-message o-message--inform o-message--notice\" data-o-component=\"o-message\">\n<div class=\"o-message__container\">\n<div class=\"o-message__content\">\n<p class=\"o-message__content-main\">Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/__origami\/service\/image\/v2\/images\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.flourish.studio%2Fvisualisation%2F24143524%2Fthumbnail%3FcacheBuster%3D973344?source=cp-content-pipeline&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=1020&dpr=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/picture><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Trump\u2019s decision to slap punitive duties on countries that transshipped Chinese goods will also be a huge opportunity for the supply chain management industry, according to Alex Capri, senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore\u2019s business school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new Trump tariffs will require importers to have reliable traceability practices to spare them from these arbitrary \u2018transshipment tariffs\u2019. This will result in a burgeoning services sector around the necessary technologies and verification processes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><em>Data visualisation by Jonathan Vincent. Additional reporting by<\/em> <em>James Politi in Washington<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/bc6b1f7a-36a4-4b7b-b9c4-ed111fd7ddd9\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington,…\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}